Quickie:

SassyLostie - It was a little weird for Sawyer to be so outwardly upset. But as it said in the chapter, Kate was trying to compose herself for the sake of Charlie and Claire. And of course we all know how good she is with secrecy. Sawyer, on the other hand...

All righty guys. Buckle your seatbelts. It's gonna be one hell of a ride!

Chapter 37

The next morning, Sawyer woke up before Kate and headed down the hall. He glanced in the room that Charlie and Claire had stayed in and saw it was empty and perfectly clean. He sighed in relief, glad to have his house back. Now he could really enjoy being home again.

While he started to make a pot of coffee, he realized the house was eerily quiet. Without Aaron, there was no noise, and he'd forgotten that fact. Hell. Did he actually miss the little guy? Well, maybe a little. He knew he wouldn't miss reading The Three Little Pigs to him, but the kid definitely left his mark. Quite literally too, Sawyer thought while he scratched at the pox as he sat down at the table.

"Stop that," Kate said upon entering, proceeding to yawn.

Sawyer obeyed and followed her with his eyes as she walked over to the counter. He watched her fill a cup and take a roll. That was when he realized – she was starting to put on the first few pounds. She wasn't too noticeably heavier, but she wasn't the usual stick she always was. She turned around and caught him staring.

"What?"

He opened his mouth to speak but stopped himself, knowing it probably was not the best thing to say right now. No, it wasn't the best thing to say ever.

"Nothin'."

She looked down and sat across from him. He knew exactly what was coming and instantly filled with dread.

"Look," she started. "Instead of talking about it, and thinking about it, let's just not."

Maybe not. "Okay."

"And, when the time comes for us to make another decision…we'll…make it. It'll be a lot easier than pining over it for the next few weeks."

"Yeah."

"I, uh," she paused, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I do have one question though."

"What's that?"

"What was that about last night?"

He didn't answer her, but instead got up and helped himself to a cup of coffee. He held it for a moment, then turned around leaning against the counter.

"Just pent up anger."

"Anger at what?"

He sipped his coffee.

"At Charlie and Claire?"

He sighed, still refusing to answer. Kate paused too, before continuing.

"At me?" she asked, keeping her eyes on the floor.

"No."

She looked up at him.

"I was just angry about what happened."

She smiled sheepishly. "The way you behaved with Aaron, I'd think you'd be relieved."

"I am," he said too quickly. "I was. I don't know."

She nodded in understanding. "We won't talk about it anymore."

"Good."

He walked back over to the table and sat with her. They were awkwardly quiet, unsure of what to say or do now that it was only the two of them. Kate picked at the roll she had taken and ate little bites of it. Only moments later, she hurriedly got up and ran to the bathroom. Sawyer forgot she still had morning sickness. Probably because he wasn't able to focus entirely on her for the past few days. Kate returned and sat with him again, forcing a smile.

"Can't wait until that's over," she tried.

He grunted, staring into his coffee cup.

"This doesn't have to be so awkward, you know."

"It ain't."

"Feels like it."

"Why?"

"'Cause it's so quiet."

"That's just 'cause Huey ain't here anymore. You got used to the noise."

She smiled. "I do miss him. A little."

"Well, every time you go to scratch one of those pox, you can remember him," he joked.

She looked down, not wanting to think about the pox. If she thought about them, she'd think about the child – something she really hadn't wanted to do anymore.

Mackenzie wandered into the kitchen and toward Sawyer. Without thinking, he reached down and gave the cat a pet. Kate noticed and smiled.

"Looks like you've finally warmed up to him."

He looked up, embarrassedly. "I'm not – "

"Don't try and deny it," she laughed.

"Whatever," he said, bringing his hand back up to the table.

He noticed quite a bit of the cat's fur clinging to his hand, and shook it off. The cat wandered over towards Kate now, and she scooped him up into her lap to pet it.

"See? All you needed was to give it a little time," she looked up at him.

He snickered and just shook his head. Noticing, she smiled inquisitively.

"What?"

"You're just really somethin'."

It was her turn to look away, embarrassed. She continued to pet Mackenzie as they sat in silence, shaking off the shedding fur.

"So, I was gonna clean out the shed today," Sawyer started.

"Oh." Mackenzie hopped off of her lap leaving a small mass of fur. "Okay."

"You wanna help?" he grinned.

She smiled. "What would I have to do?"

"Baby, you could just stand there and look cute, if you like."

She laughed. "All right. I'll help."

In a little while, Kate and Sawyer had formed a nice neat pile of firewood in one corner of the shed. While Kate started to straighten up his workbench, he began to pick up the pieces of wood he'd broken the night before from the ground.

"What was that, anyway?" Kate asked.

"Nothin'. Just extra wood."

"Looks like you had it cut to make something," she said, standing behind him.

"I uh…I was makin' another shelf for the bench," he decided to tell her.

When he turned around, she was practically against him. He peered down at her, and caught a glimpse of a smirk.

"That's all?"

He grinned, trying to play it off. "That's all."

She stared for a moment longer, then let it go. "Okay."

He sighed in relief, glad that she took so easily to his fib. He definitely hadn't expected that.

"You know, it's quite a lot of pieces for a shelf."

He groaned. Spoke too soon.

"What the hell does it matter what it was? It ain't nothin' now."

"Well, you were out here for a few days working on it. I think I have a right to be curious."

"Well maybe you oughta keep your nose outta other peoples' business," he teased quietly.

She grinned. "When it comes to you, when have you ever known me to do that?"

"Point taken."

They were silenced again until Kate suddenly let out a gasp of pain. Sawyer looked over and saw her grimacing at her finger. He dropped what he was doing and went over to her.

"What happened?"

She smiled up at him. "Maybe you should just mind your own business, James."

"Ha ha. Very funny."

She held out her left hand for him to see. In the center of her ring finger was a long piece of wood caught under the skin.

"Hell of a splinter, Freckles," he said, examining it.

"Here, I can get it," she said trying to pull away.

"I got it," he pulled back.

"I can do it myself," she tugged again.

"I said I'll do it."

"You don't have to – "

"Would you just hold still?"

"Really, I can – OW!"

He held out his hand and smirked, triumphantly. When she looked down at it, she saw the splinter lying in his palm. She grinned.

"Thank you," she said, defiantly. Then she started toward the house again to stop the bleeding wound.

"You're welcome."

He followed her into the house and into the bathroom downstairs. While she ran her finger under water, he rummaged through the closet for a band-aid.

"Damnit," he muttered.

"What?"

"They're upstairs. I'll be right back."

There was a short knocking at the door as he started to leave the bathroom. They stared at each other, quizzically.

"I'll get it," she said.

As he proceeded up the stairs, Kate wrapped a paper towel around her finger, and walked over to open the door. Her eyebrows creased when she faced the visitor. She spoke before Kate could.

"Lucy?"

Kate's eyes widened and she stepped out of the house, pulling the door almost closed behind her. She hadn't been called 'Lucy' in a long time.

"What're you doing here?" Kate asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"How did you find me?"

"I didn't come here for you."

"Hey, Freckles!" Sawyer called, armed with a box of band-aids. "Who's at the…"

Sawyer trailed as he opened the door and saw Kate standing face to face with Cassidy. As his face formed into a glare, Cassidy's formed a sly smirk.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

"Nice to see you too, Sawyer."

Kate stared back and forth between the two of them, confused. Then it finally dawned on her that Cassidy was here for Sawyer, and not her. Which meant that…Sawyer knew Cassidy? But…how? Then she slowly realized - she already knew the answer…